nãovsnasWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: não is a adverb, nas is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“não” is an adverb and “nas” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11
“não” frequency rank
#74
“nas” frequency rank
85
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature não nas
Definition usado para negar verbos e adjetivos caso genitivo do pronome pessoal my

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set não and nas apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
não
3 ch
nas

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: não is anadverb and nasapronoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

não is recorded at frequency rank #11, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈnɐ̃w̃/. nas is at rank #74, tagged as apron.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 85, this pair ranks #75,567 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of não vs nas

Shared letters: n. Private to "não": . Private to "nas": as.

"não" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "nas" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequency comparison

não#11
nas#74

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "não" and "nas" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "não" is an adverb and "nas" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "não" or "nas"?
"não" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11 in our Portuguese list, against #74 for "nas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering não vs nas

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adverb, it's “não”; for a pronoun, it's “nas”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “não” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list